Coming attractions

No idea (and no promises made) when these will go up, but here's what I've been working on this rainy weekend:

1. Jazz Butcher -v- Max Eider (Conspiracy), Jazz Butcher
   
2. Jimi Hendrix's almost 9 minue version of "Gloria." This is also available as an iTune download if you don't want to wait for me.
   
3. Belle Stars, The Belle Stars
   
4. E=MC^2 (extended remix), Big Audio Dynamite
   
5. Helter Skelter (Live), Husker Du EP
   
6. Spring Concert 1977, Piedmont Middle School & Piedmont High School bands. Featuring your host on saxophone.
   
7. Woke Up This Morning and Found Myself Dead, Jimi Hendrix. Live bar concert recording complete with incoherent ranting by Jim Morrison.
   
8. The Music Man, Original Broadway Cast
   
9. The Five Pennies Soundtrack with Danny Kaye and Louis Armstrong
   
10. Alice in Wonderland, all the songs from the Walt Disney motion picture
    
11. Story of Treasure Island from the Walt Disney motion picture
    
12. Absent Minded Professor, narrated by Sterling Holloway and featuring the "Flubber Song" sung by Fred MacMurray
    
13. Story and Songs from Walt Disney's Mary Poppins, with Marni Nixon
    
14. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Magic Mirror LP with all the songs from the movie and a full-sized illustrated book
    
15. the Return of Roger Miller, Roger Miller

Revenge of the Killer B's, VOL 2

Under construction -- songs are linked...still need to add a bit more of the liner notes


Someone alert the Apostrophe Protection Society!

12" LP
Warner Bros Records, 1984
1-25068

Here's another book I should probably get: 45 RPM: The History, Heroes & Villains of a Pop Music Revolution. Quoting: Warner Bros. released so many such singles that it was able to pool non-LP sides by Prince, Madonna, the Pretenders, and Talking Heads onto two good-selling albums, Attack of the Killer B's and Revenge of the Killer B's.

If anyone comes across a copy of Attack of the Killer B's, give me a call. I only had this on cassette and it's long gone. Artists included: Laurie Anderson, Blasters, T-Bone Burnett, Marshall Crenshaw, Peter Gabriel, Gang of Four, John Hiatt, Pretenders, Ramones, Roxy Music, Talking Heads, Time. I probably broke the tape playing the Laurie Anderson and The Time tracks.

And that quote explains what Fleetwood Mac is doing here -- just the record company burning off a track. Otherwise a decent collection of moderately successful and moderately alternative artists. Except for that Madonna chick whose career was just taking off.

The blocktext is taken from the album descriptions for the songs.

Side One

1. Cool Water, Fleet Mac. Hey! It's Fleetwood Mac sounding like the Kingston Trio! Cool!
   

   One of pop/rockdom's most eclectic acts has a reputation for innovation; this more than forty-year-old song from The Sons of the Pioneers underscores that fact. Lindsey Buckingham, backed by John McVie(!), is the soothing lead voice on this cut which originally backed "Gypsy from the Mirage album. A sane selection, don't you agree?

   
   
2. Somebody Like You, Marshall Crenshaw. Nice, bouncy song. Possibly more cynical than the a-side. Great song.
   

   You can always count on The Crensh to come up with some hot flip sides. This one is the heavyweight which originally graced the obverse of "Cynical Girl." Don't miss the Spinal Tap cover version if you have the time, (Just Kidding)

   
   
3. Sometimes I Wish I was Dead, Depeche Mode. This is where Loudon Wainwright III should jump in and correct "You mean 'sometimes I wish I WERE dead.'" This is such a peppy little tune I am considering making a Numa Numa style chair-dance video to it. It would be huge. Interesting, the lyrics Backstreet, never meet, never say goodbye -- Backstreet is a popular name for gay clubs, I wonder which came first?
   

   Don't let the gloom squad title fool you, this one is as upbeat as they come. Written by Vince Clark who went on to form Yaz and The Assembly, this charming slice of synth was featured on the D.P.'s first U.K. album and as a premium in "Flexipop" magazine.

   
   
4. Post Office, Rank and File. Some of Southern California's finest cowpunk.
   

   A C-side (heretofore available only on cassette) from R&F's first country rock opus "Sundown." The song, with no apologies to Mr. Zip, is one if the highlights of the band's live performances. Makes the transition to vinyl quite nicely, don't you think?

   
   
5. Moon 83, The B-52's. Again the album uses another inappropriate apostrophe. You'd think the record label couldspell the band's name correctly. Otherwise, sounds like typical B-52s.
   

   It's only fitting that these B's be here with their fellow B's. This particular "Moon" first rose on the flip of "Legal Tender" and represents a kind of Part 2 approach to the classic "There's A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon)" with haunting crustacean over and undertones. Don't bother thinking about it too much; it's great for freestyle dancing.

   
   
6. Money (Live), Pretenders. Because making money is bad. Pretty good cover and a good gauge of someone's age (or lack of) if they don't recognize the US festival.
   

   Theme song for many of the headliners at the 1983 (and last) US festival where, coincidentally, this was recorded. Of historical significance: this represented the U.S. debut of the band's current personnel line-up. The original version (by Barrett Strong) put Motown on the map. First released as the B-side of the U.K. twelve-inch "2000 Miles."

   
   Side Two
   
7. I Wish You Wouldn't Say That, Talking Heads.
   

   Dating from the days before they started exploring avant funk, this '77 item showcases the urgency that still sets them apart from the pack. Originally found on the flip of "Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town," it makes all the sense in the world, doesn't it?

   
   
8. Way Out And Up We Go, Echo and the Bunnymen.
   

   The critically acclaimed quartet from Liverpool (where have we heard that before?), E&The B-men have long been on top in Europe. This was the B-Side of "The Cutter" from the Porcupine sessions of last year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, indeed.

   
   
9. Your Finest Hour, Tom Verlaine.
   

   Some Churchillian dogma from the man who can say he actually invented Television. Tom's guitar phrasing can take you at least eight miles high on this one which has been aging in our song cellar since his Words From The Front sessions.

   
   
10. You Had No Intention, Kid Creole and The Coconuts.
    

    August Darnell, Andy Hernandez and those gorgeous gals keept it moving with this musical accusation. Love that "liar, liar" chorus: such angst!! We cinfess: it was the flip of "Annie I'm Not Your Daddy" in England.

    
    
11. Ain't No Big Deal, Madonna. This is not a good song. There had to be a producer who kept insisting that all the song needed was more grunting.
    

    Maybe so, but Madonna's career has become one. She formerly cut the rug for the Alvin Ailey dance troupe but now is shaking things up vocally at the top of the charts. This hot number has never been previously released; it was recorded during the sessions for her first album.

    
    
12. Set the Killing Free, Aztec Camera. This is a masterpiece of a song. Rhythmic, insistent lyrics, not really sure what he's singing about, but the pleading is so earnest and irony-free I want to believe. Set against a soaring guitar refrain and 25 years after the fact, this song sounds incredibly fresh. I think Roddy Frame was 19 when he did this.
    

    Led by Scottish sensation Roddy Frame, the A.C's are one of the future's brightest hopes. This pyschfolk track originally backed the extended U.K. version of "Walk Out To Winter."

    
    
    

Story of the Three Little Pigs

Another story read by Robie Lester. The b-side is Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf from the movie.

1. Story of the Three Little Pigs (Robie Lester)
   
2. Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?